WINDSOR -- A 62-year-old woman has died in an apartment fire in Windsor and her out-of-province daughter is trying to get back to the city.
Lorraine Baker, 62, died early Tuesday morning inside her apartment at 3400 Erskine Street, according to her daughter Tonya Gibbs.
"She fell asleep smoking and that’s what happened,” Gibbs told CTV News in a phone interview from Calgary. “It’s just very disturbing."
Gibbs says she moved out west eight years ago, and hasn't seen her mother since but was still connected to her family back here in Windsor.
"I loved her very much and you know I haven't always been there, and I wish that I could have been,” said Gibbs while crying over the phone. “I feel like if I would have been this wouldn't have happened."
Gibbs says she’s now trying crowdfunding to pay for a flight home to Windsor.
"She was a very beautiful woman,” says Gibbs. “(She) struggled with mental problems for a very long time, depression and just wasn't capable of taking care of herself."
Gibbs says Baker struggled with kidney problems, Parkinson’s disease plus mental health issues her entire life.
"She hasn't had it easy but she made due with what she said and she tried as best as she could to take care of us," says Gibbs, who also has a 40-year-old brother.
According to Windsor Fire and Rescue chief fire prevention officer John Lee, when firefighters arrived at Rivershore Tower just after midnight on Feb. 18 there was heavy smoke on the second floor.
"I know they accessed the fire from the balcony as well as from the hallway," adds Lee. "There was a female person, a resident, in the suite that was deceased."
The Office of the Ontario Fire Marshal is investigating, but Lee says the site investigation isn't likely to begin until sometime on Wednesday.
Lee says until that investigation is complete, they won't comment on how the fire started or how much damage it caused.
Two other residents inside the building were treated at the scene for minor smoke inhalation, but didn't need to go to hospital, according to Lee.
